The populaire route is a tour of Fairmont Park landmarks, with a loop
out to the suburbs, including rural Evansburg State Park and the
interesting town of Ambler. You will visit Laurel Hill Cemetary,
Strawberry Mansion, and more.

This populaire is open to all RUSA members.

The turn at mile 59.6 is tricky. You make a right at the traffic light at Leverington then an immediate left at High St before the bridge. This is what it looks like:

Miss this left turn and No Brownies For You!

A volunteer pre-ride was conducted on Sunday 23 February by Chris Nadovich and CJ Arayata. Route revisions and comments have been incorporated into the RWGPS route and published cuesheet (version 7).

We can only hope that the weather will be as nice on 8 March as it was on 23 February for our pre-ride. Temperatures started in the upper 20s but quickly climbed to the high 50s, with both CJ and I stripping down to Spring-like clothing choices.

Inspired by the Scenic Schuylkill Century metric route, we found that this 107K populaire course did a decent job transiting the busy suburban roads ringing the city and soon reaching some beautiful rural paths. It's generally benign terrain. A triple or 39x27 is not necessary. There is certainly some climbing, but no relentless mountains. There is a nice view of the city from the highest point in the course, (Berks and Potshop, mile 25.8).

Most of the route is in good shape. There are two locations under construction. We had little trouble getting through both.

Mile 9, 56.2: At River Rd just after/before Nixon there is a section of dirt and gravel with a missing bridge crossed by a wooden pedestrian walk.

Mile 23.7: A bridge under construction. We were able to walk under the orange plastic fences.

There are other notes from the pre-ride that have been incorporated into the cues. Have a great ride!

PARKING: I know some riders from outside Philly are a little put-off by the thought of figuring out where to park in Center City. Please don't worry about this. Before the event on Sunday at the end of boathouse row parking is available free if you turn right up Sedgley Dr and into Lemon Hill. This is directly across from Lloyd Hall, where there are public restrooms and a water fountain, Later in the day a snackbar is open here, not to mention the excellent Water Works museum, open 1-5 on Sunday.

Do be aware of traffic in those roads nearest the city, especially
the "transitional" suburban roads near the first controle and after the
penultimate controle where the shoulder has shrunk but the traffic speed has increased. Also, when riding in the City itself, please use
rider discretion interpreting the cue sheet. In several locations there are numerous navigation options. Trail
often parallels road. Ride on whichever you feel is safest. Don't make erratic
moves between trail and road.

All the details and online registration may be found at the event website.